


The Cop and The Criminal

by brothergrimace1



Category: Daria (Cartoon)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 12:34:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13271562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brothergrimace1/pseuds/brothergrimace1
Summary: Set in Roentgen's 'Legion of Lawndale Heroes (Daria/Legion of Super-Heroes) shared-world fanfic setting, this story deals with two new members of the team - and how they have their first real conversation.





	The Cop and The Criminal

 

 

 

_The Cop and The Criminal _

_A Legion of Lawndale Heroes ‘Mini’, by Brother Grimace _

_**Legion of Lawndale Heroes created by James Bowman**_

 

 

A tired and sore Karen eked out of the elevator, and somehow managed to guide herself towards the comfort of a very large couch before her legs decided that they didn’t want to work for her anymore. 

“I see you met Sergeant Nemec.” 

Karen groaned as she opened her right eye, and used her peripheral vision to look at Julia, who was at one of the oversized tables in the center of the area. “Did I wander into your room?” 

She rotated her head slowly. “As big as this is… did you make them give you the entire floor?” 

Julia actually laughed. “The entire floor wouldn’t be my entire room at home. They must not have finished us putting your clearances into the security systems - the elevators are programmed to not take anyone without prior clearance any further than the fifteenth floor.” 

She gestured, and Karen lifted her head to see that she was seated near the middle of the entire floor (the elevator shaft was directly in the middle of the huge area) and that it was ringed by a series of wall-like glass panes that allowed a three-hundred and sixty degree field of view. 

“Welcome to the _Observation Deck_ ,” Julia continued. “The views from here can be amazing - especially during storms. I don’t want one to hit around here, but watching a tornado from here would be an experience…” 

“Right.” Karen puller herself into a normal seated position. “They told me that my room was on twenty-four.” 

“But they didn’t make certain that _your clearance_  was ready.” 

The redhead looked up from the laptop - and Karen only then noticed that Julia had been typing non-stop since they had begun talking. “They may have forgotten to unlock your door, or put some snacks and drinks in your fridge to tide you over until you go shopping,” Julia told her. “The cafeteria’s great, but sometimes you just want to stay in your room or cook for yourself.” 

“What are you typing?” 

The speed of the clacking that indicated Julia’s continued typing was actually quite impressive. “Notes for my senior thesis paper. I’m an AJ major, and I still have to take classes while I’m here with the Legion.” 

“AJ?” 

Julia fingers never stopped as she answered. “Oh. ‘ _Administration of Justice’_  - law-enforcement concentration. I get my degree in June.” 

“What’s your paper about?” 

Julia’s expression visibly cooled as she answered. “It’s on the history of major hijackings and heists in the 20th Century, with a focus on religious-oriented and/or political extremist groups, where the goal was to secure financing in order to further their goals - and those of other like-minded groups.” 

Karen looked closely at Julia. “You want to be a robbery detective?” 

“I’m training to be a property crimes investigator, but I started to slide over into anti-terrorism stuff a year or so back - and everybody remembers that one of the best long-term ways of dealing with these mutts is to cut off their funding.” Julia glanced over at the open notebook beside her laptop, glanced up at Karen, and then back to her screen. “We track them down after they do a major burglary or hijacking, track the money that’s been disbursed to the other groups, and we can bust those bastards, every one.” 

Karen saw how Julia went focused as she continued to speak, the way a predator goes when she sees prey. “The ones who do it for a cause - those are the best once to bring down. They’re not soldiers, or patriots, or ‘in service to a higher order’ - they’re __thieves__. They’re taking what doesn’t belong to them and using it to kill or terrorize other people, all the while spitting out some BS racist or religious dogma that they think makes them better than anyone else.” 

“You really don’t like robbers - or terrorists, do you?” 

Julia stopped typing. “I have a problem with _anyone_  who goes out and attacks others with the justification that what they believe gives them the right to inflict their beliefs upon others through force - even if they believe that they’re on the side of the Right while doing so.” 

To her credit, Julia thought, Karen didn’t flinch or look away as she spoke. 

“You’re not going to give me a chance, are you?” 

“If I was like that - I’d be an absolute bitch.” Julia continued to type. “You’re in. If U.N.C.L.E. and the other Legionnaires think that you deserve a chance, then fine. I’m willing to go along with that - no strings attached, no trying to trip you up or screw you over. That’s not who I am.” 

“That’s… that’s decent of you.” 

“Not finished.” Julia’s voice took on a cool snap. “You’re a _criminal_. You used your powers to terrorize others - and I _do not care_  if __they__  were only criminals who you thought deserved it. It wasn’t your place to make those decisions… and from what I know about it, you never changed your attitude on how what you did to those people was _illegal_.” 

Karen decided to shut this entire line off. “You don’t get to judge me.” 

“You’re right,” Julia shot back. “I don’t get to judge _anyone_. _I’m a cop_. I _arrest_  people, and put them in the system where someone else _who has the legal authority to do so_  gets to judge them. _You_  cut through the system as though it’s beneath you. _No one is above the law_  - oh, and if any one of those mutts you banged around with has anything resembling a decent lawyer, then they’re either back on the street or up for a new trial. ‘Fruit of the poisoned tree’ is inadmissible in court - or didn’t they teach you that in vigilante school?” 

Karen leaned forward; the fatigue she felt earlier was now a memory pushed aside. “Are we done? I see how this is going to go.” 

“I said that you get a chance. I’m not a liar when I said that I’m not going to trip you up.” Julia brushed her hair back. “I’m also not going to pretend you’re something you’re not. Prove to the others that you’re actually trying to be what you say you’re trying to be. Everyone gets a chance to make it right when they screw up. This is yours - and don’t blow it. You’re not _the only one_  who knows ‘Uncle Napoleon’… and if you decide to go off the reservation - _he won’t save you._ ” 

Karen unconsciously mimicked Julia’s movement with her own hair as she focused her eyes on her new teammate. __“_ You… are full of shit.”_

The way Julia moved her head to look at Karen reminded the blonde of the way she’d seen quite a few people look over the rims of their glasses at someone who just annoyed them. “Excuse me?” 

Karen leaned forward. “Did you think I came into the Legion blind? I read up on almost all of you before I set foot in this building - and you have the biggest folder of anyone here. You want to run your mouth about ‘following rules’ and ‘cutting through the system’ - don’t make me laugh.” 

She cleared her throat. “I read the paper on __Project Alliance__  - and the paperwork on how your Professor got in trouble constantly for training you and your friends to NOT follow the rules to the letter, _but to think on your own  and break the rules when it suits you_.” 

“Next time, you should take a closer look.” Julia shook her head as she spoke. “I partnered with a old grizzly bear of a cop for the first half of my internship year. Mean and hard as a frozen Snickers bar, but I learned a lot - and the first thing he ever said to me was _‘Good cops bend rules - bad cops break them. Remember that, sticks, and that badge they gave you may actually be worth something.’_ Agent Taylor and the Professor taught me that you can skirt the _letter_ of the law if you’re following the _spirit_  - or go the opposite direction, if people are using the fine print to hurt people.”

It was only then that Karen realized that the sound of Julia’s typing had stopped as the redhead continued to talk. “I was taught to follow the rules and _then_ do a workaround, if things can’t get done. _Your_ people taught you to break rules and use violence as a  first option instead of a last resort - oh, and one little thing...”

 Julia leaned forward. “Don’t you _ever  again_ conflate your uncle, that _Brother Love or the ‘training’_ you got from them with Professor Blumenberg. He means as much to me as my father does, because he spent the last ten years teaching me how to go out and help people… _do you understand?_ ” 

The blonde stared at Julia as she rose from the couch. “Fine.” 

“Hold on.” 

Julia moved her mouse, and was silent for thirty seconds as she typed. “No - they haven’t set up your room,” she told Karen. “That’s actually surprising - they’re usually much faster than this. If you want, you can crash in mine until they open it up for you. I had them put in a spare bedroom in my apartment for guests.” 

“You have a spare bedroom in your apartment?” Karen raised her eyebrows - and winced as the fatigue from her workout re-asserted itself with a vengeance. “What did you do - make them give you a _second_  apartment and knock out a wall or two?” 

Julia shrugged. “I paid for it.” 

“You paid for the work?” 

“No, I paid for the _rooms_.” The tall redhead couldn’t help but smile. “I bought my rooms - and paid _New York  rates_ for them, they cut me no deals, I promise you - so now, I have a permanent place here. I figured that it might come in handy someday - and besides, it means that my Nana can’t just show up and nag about, well, _anything_.” 

Karen suddenly made the connection. The _money_ it would take to actually buy a room in this place, the connections she’d have to have to even get the Legion to even consider such a thing, and then, there was the _last name_  this tall, skinny redhead had… 

“Your Nana… _Miranda Carlyle ’s_ your-” 

_“Pain. In. The. Ass.”_ Julia looked up at her. “I set the guide to lead you to my apartment. Just follow the lights when you get out of the elevator; the door’s already open. If you want a good, long bath, I’ve got some amazing bath salts and beads. If you want to try something nice, definitely try the mango, lavender and pomegranate bath beads. It’s gentle heaven for _hours_.” 

Karen cocked her head to the left. “You’re being _nice_  to me? After _that_  speech?” 

“Once again - I said _‘you get a chance’_.” Julia looked up, and the twinkle in her large, jade eyes did not go unnoticed by Karen. “What I could even think of doing is _NOTHING_  compared to how the Colonel and Sergeant Nemec are going to react if you do an end-run on the Legion… and then, there’s _Daria_.” 

Karen drew back a bit at the mention of the tiny Legionnaire. “What about Daria?” 

“After you have your bath, use the desktop in my room and read over the after-action report over the Legion’s run on _Appleton Labs_ ,” Julia told her. “Read up on what Daria did to William Appleton when we bagged him, in case he tried to slip away from us. Absolutely _brutal._ ” 

Karen actually felt a slight chill as her eyes met with Julia’s. “Oh - and I have a couple of slabs of ribs in the refrigerator, along with a case of Ultra Cola,” the taller Legionnaire informed Karen. “I wanted to get a couple of bottles of sparkling mead - we have it at Nana’s, it’s so good - _‘but you’re only eighteen, Carlyle, and you know that it’s against regulations for you to have alcoholic beverages in your quarters’._ God, that’s so annoying, having an officer around whose orders I _have_  to follow…” 

The sound of Colonel Armalin’s voice coming from Julia made Karen blink hard with surprise. “How the hell did you do that?” 

“Do what? Oh. _That _.__  Part of my _voice powers_.” 

“You can duplicate anyone’s voice?” 

Julia nodded. “Pretty much - and I can do it at a distance. Want to hear a funny story about my first night in the Legion, when I scared all of the guys doing this?” 

Karen smiled. “I have a bottle of hundred-proof spiced rum in the saddle-bag on my Harley. I’m going to get that, some of those ribs, some soda… and then, you’re going to tell me stories. I’m, not exactly a drinker - so there will be more for you.” 

“You can’t do that.” Julia shook her head. “Bringing that in. You’re only eighteen years old, too.” 

“So? I’m not like you. _I can do anything I want._  Remember - _I’m a criminal._” 

Julia barked off a laugh. “Let’s not test that out until you at least have a decent bath, a good night’s rest, and Nemec has had a chance to give you a truly memorable morning of PT. The fact that you’re able to get up enough strength to talk and get angry… _that just means that Nemec went easy on you _.__ ” 

The blond’s expressionless face went ghostly pale instantly. “That - was _easy_? 

“Oh, yeah. Have a good rest, and eat up. You’ll need your strength.” 

Karen decided to never tell Julia that the smirk on her face - and the way the redhead glanced at her earlier - mimicked Daria’s trademarked expression from high school almost perfectly. 

_I’ll wait until I’m about to leave for good - oh, and I need to talk to the Colonel or the Sergeant about something to block Daria out. There’s already too much up there in my head that’s classified - and she doesn’t mind poking her brain in where it doesn’t belong._

 

**END**

 

19 August 2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
